The Educated Marketer

Are You Optimizing Your Downtime?

School’s out for summer! Enrollment for fall semester is set and high school seniors will likely not be making any decisions for the following year until school starts up again. So what’s a higher education marketer to do?

Sometimes when life is completely hectic, it’s hard to keep up, much less try anything new. Natural breaks provide the chance to do a 180 and break out of your comfort zone.

Summer is a great time to set goals and create a fresh new inbound marketing plan for the 2016/2017 recruiting season. Perhaps you’ve dabbled in inbound marketing, tested the waters a bit. Now is the time to push that even further and really dive in.

Here are some ways to grow your inbound plan this summer:

Make a plan for sharing great content

According to Hubspot, 70% of marketers have reported that they are creating more content now than they did a year ago. But it’s not just about creating content, it’s creating a plan complete with a mission, goals, target audience, types of content and an editorial calendar with timely topics.

Create content

That’s right—if you’ve set your plan and goals, there is no reason why you can’t get to work on some of that content you’ll be needing all year round. You can also spend some time developing content with off-season tips for your audience. How about an ebook on what incoming high school seniors can be doing to research colleges over the break? Or a virtual college tour of your university?

Stay social

Millennials grew up in the digital age and therefore get most of their socialization from the Internet. So that is the best place to reach them! They are also over-saturated with brands, and do not respond to traditional advertisements. So spend some time on social media having a conversation with them about your institution. Remember to always be genuine and nurture your leads. Don’t go in for a hard sell during early interactions, it will only turn them off.

Optimize your website

According to Huffington Post, 57% of mobile users will abandon your website if it doesn’t load within 3 seconds. Prospective students are learning about colleges via the Internet, on their iPads and smartphones. You may find it easier to hire an agency to help you with this, but there is absolutely no time like the present to update your website so that come fall, you are ready.

Attend a conference

Still not sure how exactly how inbound works? Want to get some expert advice on creating new strategies? Summer is a great time to check out a conference and gain knowledge from experts in your field. Higher Ed Experts provides a comprehensive list you can check out.

I’m not saying your entire summer should be dedicated to honing your inbound marketing plan. Of course, summer is also an excellent time to take a personal break. Go on that vacation you’ve been putting off, get projects done around the house. Do whatever you need to do to refresh yourself.

Then, get ready to dig in and refresh your marketing strategies.

See if you're doing what it takes to reach enrollment goals with our free Inbound Marketing checklist.